Tämä diplomityö osoittaa selkeästi, että objektiivisesti turvallisten tunnistautumisratkaisujen kehittäminen ei itsessään takaa käyttäjähyväksyntää. Käyttöaikomuksen kannalta olennaista on käyttäjän subjektiivisesti kokema turvallisuudentunne. Siksi käyttäjien vakuuttaminen tunnistautumisen turvallisuudesta on erittäin tärkeää. Diplomityö osoittaa, että koettu turvallisuus on monimutkainen käsite, jonka muodostumiseen vaikuttavat useat tekijät, kuten käyttökonteksti, käyttökokemus mobiilipalveluista sekä palveluntarjoajan brändi ja maine. Tämä on syytä huomioida kehitettäessä uusia ratkaisuja mobiilitunnistautumiseen.New advanced mobile phones and services enable users to handle a great number of tasks with their mobile phones, bringing increased flexibility. However, users have been reluctant to widely adopt the new mobile services. One of the most significant reasons for this are the security concerns of the users. Perceived security in mobile authentication has not been directly studied before, although it can be considered to have a great importance, as many of the new mobile services involve user authentication as an essential element. Therefore, this thesis aimed to form a good conception of this important topic.

The subject of perceived security in mobile authentication is approached through a literature review on the related research and an empirical study that was realized as a web survey. In the empirical study, both qualitative and quantitative data was collected, and it was carefully analyzed with proper tools. After analyzing the study results, a synthesis of the literature findings and the findings of the empirical study was performed.

The examination of this thesis revealed that perceived security is important for users and it considerably affects the intention to use mobile authentication. However, it was noticed that the effect significantly varies based on the service in question. A noteworthy observation was that half of the users are not using mobile banking services due to security concerns. In addition to generally determining the effect of perceived security on the use intention, this thesis identified factors that affect the formation of perceived security. A number of recommendations for taking perceived security into account in the design process were made based on the findings.

This thesis provides clear evidence that developing objectively secure authentication solutions does not alone guarantee user acceptance. The crucial factor affecting the users' intention to use mobile services is the subjective perception of security. Thereby, assuring users of the authentication security is of utmost importance. The thesis clearly highlights that perceived security is a complex concept and it is affected by various factors such as use context, service usage experience, and brand and reputation of service provider. This should be carefully considered when developing new mobile authentication solutions.